
TRACT. 



BY 

BENJAMIN SMITH LYMAN. 





With a Geological and Topographical Map. 





PHILADELPHIA: 
SHERMAN & CO., PRINTERS. 

1893. 




























































SHIPPEN AND WETHERILL 


TRACT. 


BY 

BENJAMIN SMITH LYMAN. 

* t 



w 


With a Geological and Topographical Map. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
SHERMAN & CO. PRINTERS. 












CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Report on the Shippen and Wetherill Tract,.5 

1. Situation, ........... 5 

2. Lay of the Land,. g 

3. Geology,.7 

Structure,.. 

Rocks,.7 

4. Coal Beds, . . . . . . . _ _ . lh 

Mammoth Coal Bed,.10 

Palmer Tunnel, . . ...10 

Old Air Hole, # 10 

Blew’s Slopes,.11 

Near Old Drift,.. . . .12 

Log Road,.13 

^ West End of Tract,.13 

Southwest,.14 

Average Thickness,.15 

Outcrops,.15 

Quantity,.10 

Ten Foot Coal Bed, . 16 

Near Blew’s Slopes,.. . 16 

On the Log Road, ......... 17 

Other Openings,.17 

Average Thickness,. 17 

Quantity,.18 

Buck Mountain Coal Bed,. . .19 

Just Outside East End of Tract,.19 

Northeast Hole, . . . . . . . . . .19 

Road Forks, ........... 19 

Western Hole,.20 

Crop Boring,.20 

South of the Tract, . . . ..21 

Neighboring Mines, ......... 21 

Average Thickness, ......... 22 

Quantity,.23 

Other Coal Beds,.23 

Orchard Coal Bed, ......... 23 

Primrose Coal Bed, ......... 23 

Holmes Coal Bed,.24 

“ Top Split of the Mammoth,” ....... 24 

Drift Coal Bed, . . . ' . . . . . . .26 

Spring Coal Bed, . . . . . . * . . .27 

Lykens Valley Coal Bed,.28 

5. Summary of the Workable Coal,. . .28 

6. Mining and Shipment,.29 

7. Map and Sections,.29 

An occurrence of Coarse Conglomerate above the Mammoth Anthracite Bed, . 32 































REPORT ON THE SHIPPEN AND WETHER1LL TRACT 
SCHUYLKILL TOWNSHIP, SCHUYLKILL CO., PA. 


BY BENJAMIN SMITH LYMAN. 

(With a Geological and Topographical Map.) 

1. Situation. 

The Sliippen and Wetherill Tract, in Schuylkill township, Schuyl¬ 
kill county, Pennsylvania, is a mile and a quarter north of the vil¬ 
lage of Patterson (at the Brockville station of the Philadelphia and 
Reading Railroad) half a mile north of the old Potts and Sillyman 
coal mines, a mile northwest of the old Swift Creek colliery, a mile 
and a quarter west of the Palmer tunnel of the Kentucky Bank col¬ 
liery, two miles west of the village of Tuscarora, three miles north 
of Middleport, four miles southeast of New Boston, four miles and 
a half southeast of Mahanoy City, five miles southeast of Morea, 
five miles and a half west-southwest of Tamaqua, and eight miles 
northeast of Pottsville. 

The tract is in the shape of a cleaver, with a long handle towards 
the northeast, and a broad blade on the southeast side towards the 
southwest. The handle is 900 yards long and 300 yards wide, and 
the blade averages about 1200 yards long by 600 yards wide, nar¬ 
rower, however, towards the west, making the total length about a 
mile and a quarter. According to a very accurate survey made last 
summer by Mr. Howell T. Fisher, the tract contains 207 acres and 
140 perches, or 207 J acres. 


2. Lay of the Land. 


The tract lies on the southern edge of Broad Mountain, about 
half a mile north of the Mine Hill ridge formed by the Mine Hill 
anticlinal. Big Creek flows across the very south westernmost corner 
of the tract, and is a stream of a dozen feet in width. Little Creek, 
only 2 or 3 feet wide, crosses the middle of the broad part of the 
tract from north to south, and joins Big Creek three-quarters of a 
mile below the southern boundary. 

The general trend of the hills at the northern boundary is nearly 
parallel to it, and they descend thence rather gently throughout most 
of the handle-shaped part of the tract, but 40 feet to a compa^ij&jy, 





— 6 


level bench some 300 yards wide at the blade-end of* the handle, and 
much narrower towards the west. Then, near the middle of the 
broad part of the tract, the hills fall off steeply about a hundred feet, 
with an east and west trend, to another broad bench that continues 
to the southern boundary, with a small parallel ridge at the west and 
a continuous gentle slope downwards at the east. 

The steep bluff through the middle of the tract is cut square 
across by Little Creek, with a bold crag on the eastern bank, but 
with gentler slopes on the west. A broad gentle rise in the southern 
bench separates that small stream from Big Creek, and is in line with 
the main course of Big Creek up stream, and seems like a strong 
barrier that dammed back the creek from its former straight easterly 
course and forced it to cut its way southward across the probably 
already notched Mine Hill anticlinal, where the gap now forms what 
is called Moss Glen, a narrow ravine encumbered with big blocks of 
conglomerate. 

A consideration of the geological structure shows that the broad • 
rise in the lower bench is really such a barrier, and composed of the 
same very hard rock beds that appear in the crag and hill east of 
Little Creek near the middle of the tract, and in the hill south of 
the southern bench to the westward, and that the two broad benches 
with the hills bounding them north and south are occasioned by the 
basin-like form of the underlying rocks. The topography is not 
merely a key to the geological structure, but of itself almost a com¬ 
plete demonstration of it without the numerous additional corrobo¬ 
rative observations that have been made. 

The land rises at the northern boundary to about 1400 feet above 
sea-level, on the northern bench to about 1360 feet, on the southern 
bench to about 1250 feet, and at the lowest point, where Little Creek 
leaves the tract, to about 1150 feet. 

The road from Brockvilie across Locust Valley to Mahanoy City 

enters the southern edge of the tract 100 yards east of Little Creek 

and goes out near the northwest corner. The only building on the 

tract is a small shanty for tools at Blew’s slopes, two small slopes on 

the Mammoth coal bed at the angle formed by the broad part of the 

tract, or blade, with the handle. An air-hole about 60 yards further 

east gives access to the old abandoned workings of the Kentucky 

Bank coal mine. On the east bank of Little Creek, at 60 yards 

' » 

northeast of the great crag already mentioned, there is the mouth of 
a trial drift driven about five years ago for some 84 yards on a small 
vein of coal. On the west bank of Little Creek, just north of the 


— 7 — 


Mahanoy City road, there is a diamond drill hole that was bored 
a couple of years ago. 

3. Geology. 

Structure.— The main feature of the geological structure is a 
deep basin running east and west through the southern part of the 
broad portion of the tract, sinking eastward, just north of the great 
Mine Hill anticlinal. The basin is followed on the north, almost 
without an intervening saddle, by a basin that is shallow at the east 
end of the tract, but rises and grows narrower westward, so as to 
become apparently little more than a space of very flat dips at the 
western end of the tract. This shallow basin appears to have a sub¬ 
ordinate slight roll near the middle. The Mine Hill anticlinal 
axis is to the south of the tract, and is sinking rapidly eastward, and 
has likewise on its northern side a subordinate roll that perhaps 
becomes the principal saddle further east, near the mouth of the 
Palmer tunnel. 

The dips on the south side of the main basin are gentle, some 20° 
or 25° at most at the western edge of the tract, though 37° at the 
eastern, but on the northern side, for a short space, are much steeper, 
up to 70°, or a little more. Thence northward, under the northern 
bench, the dips are very gentle or quite flat; then, northward, steeper 
again, say 30° or 45°. 

The openings of coal beds and the exposures of dips are so numer¬ 
ous both on the tract and adjacent thereto, including several mines, 
that the geological structure is now worked out in great detail, and 
is thereby thoroughly demonstrated, even aside from the very strong 
corroboration of the surface topography. 

Rocks. —The rocks just below the surface of the tract belong to 
the lower part of the productive coal measures, together with a little 
of the underlying Pottsville conglomerate. 

The highest beds, those in the middle of the main basin at the 
eastern boundarv line, are about 75 feet above the middle of the 
Orchard (or Grier) coal bed. That bed has never been opened on 
the tract, though formerly worked at a small mine a mile to the 
south, and in the Palmer tunnel, where its average thickness of good 
coal was 6 feet (H. H. Rogers’s Final Report on the Geology of 
Pennsylvania, 1858, vol. ii., p. 414). 

From the middle of the Orchard down to the middle of the Prim¬ 
rose, the next lower coal bed, is a thickness here of abjut 115 feet, 
the character of which has not been observed on the tract, except 


— 8 — 


the lower 34J feet sand-rock, bored through at the diamond drill 
hole near the middle of the tract; but would appear from the cross- 
section in Rogers’s Report, vol. ii., p. 106, to be chiefly shaly, with 
some sand-rock layers. The Primrose bed, so far as known, on the 
tract and close to it, has an average thickness there of about 18 
inches. 

Below the middle of the Primrose bed there is a thickness of 
about 120 feet down to the middle of the Holmes (or Palmer) coal 
bed. According to the diamond drill boring, the whole thickness 
was alternating beds of sand-rock and conglomerate, except some 17 
feet of slate near the middle. The Holmes bed may be taken as 
averaging 18 inches in thickness. 

From the middle of the Holmes coal bed down to the middle of 
the coal bed sometimes called the Top Split of the Mammoth, there 
is a thickness of about 188 feet, only conglomerate so far as observed 
on the tract in the diamond drill hole, except a little fire clay under 
the upper coal and some sand-rock in the upper 30 feet or so, and 
practically the same is seen on the Mahanoy City or Locust Valley 
road up from Brockville; but Rogers’s report mentions two beds of 
coal, the upper one 2 feet thick and the lower one 4 feet, in that 
space at the Palmer tunnel; and the upper one has there only slate 
above it, and below it only sandstone down to the lower one of the 
two. The upper of the two coal-beds seems to occur to the south 
of the tract in the cross-sections M N and O P ; and the lower one in 
M N (see p. 30). That report described the rest of the space down to the 
so-called Top Split, or Seven-Foot bed, in the Palmer tunnel, as “ hard 
pebbly rock” (vol. ii., p. 103), and so it is at the place just men¬ 
tioned on the Mahanoy City road, with some pebbles as large as wal¬ 
nuts. The coal bed here sometimes called the Top Split of the 
Mammoth, may be taken as averaging about 3J feetjn thickness on 
the tract. 

From the middle of the so-called Top Split of the Mammoth down 
to the middle of the main Mammoth bed is a thickness of about 
90 feet, both at the Palmer Tunnel and on the tract and at the old 
mines to the south. Rogers gives the intervening rock beds as 
“ hard pebbly rock ” (vol. ii., p. 103), and so they appear on the road 
up from Brockville towards Locust Valley and Mahanoy City. 
The diamond drill borer near the middle of the tract found them con¬ 
glomerate, with a little sandstone towards the bottom. The beds 
are in great part exposed here and there in the hill eastward from 
Little Creek, and are everywhere conglomerate, and for a thickness 


— 9 — 


of 30 feet at the crag already mentioned just east of that creek are 
very coarse, with pebbles up to 3 inches in diameter. The increase 
in coarseness is only very local ; but coarse conglomerate at this 
horizon is not unusual in the anthracite region, and has been observed 
four miles further west, near Silver creek, also on the Riehle tract, 
next west of Morea, at the Otto colliery, near Branchdale, and at 
many other places (see the paper on “ An Occurrence of Coarse 
Conglomerate above the Mammoth Anthracite Bed,” read before 
the American Institute of Mining Engineers at the Reading meeting, 
October, 1892). The average total thickness of the main Mammoth 
coal bed on the tract may be taken as 11 feet. 

From the middle of the Mammoth coal bed down to the middle 
of the coal bed of the old trial drift is a variable thickness. At 
Blew’s slopes it amounts to about 50 feet; but at the air hole of the 
old drift the two beds are only 10 feet 3 inches apart. The whole 
space between the beds appears to be filled with hard gray sand-rock, 
except half a dozen feet of fire-clay under the upper coal bed near 
the slopes. The drift coal bed may be taken as averaging possibly 
3 feet on the tract. It is the same as the Skidmore bed of Morea 
and New Boston and the Wharton bed of the middle and northern 
anthracite fields. The name, Skidmore, however, is sometimes given 
in the southern field to the next lower coal bed, if it is at any point 
the thicker of the two. 

From the middle of the Drift coal bed down to the middle of the 
Ten Foot coal bed is a thickness of about 50 feet, all apparently 
composed, between the coals, of gray sand-rock. The Ten Foot bed 
is 10 feet 7 inches thick at the only point where it has been opened 
on the tract. 

From the middle of the Ten Foot coal bed down to the middle of 
the Buck Mountain coal bed is a thickness of 70 feet, apparently all 
filled, except the coal, with sand-rock. The Buck Mountain coal 
bed may be taken on the tract as averaging 8 feet in total thickness. 

From the middle of the Buck Mountain coal bed down to the 
middle of the Spring coal bed is a thickness of about 35 feet; and 
all between the coals is apparently sand-rock, except a foot or more 
of fire-clay at the top. The Spring coal bed was opened last sum¬ 
mer near the northwest corner of the tract, some 20 yards north of 
the Buck Mountain coal opening and was 3 feet thick. The bed 
is known at Morea, and is there about 2 feet thick. 

From the middle of the Spring coal bed down to the middle of 
the Lykens Valley coal bed is about 390 feet at New Boston, 


10 — 


Morea and the East Mahanoy tunnel, and the Boston Run tunnel, 
and not far from that thickness near Tamaqua (see State Geological 
Survey Atlas, Southern Coal Field, Pt. I., Cross Section Sheet III., 
Section 12), and presumably about the same on this tract; and the 
interval between the coals is filled with conglomerate. The Lykens 
Valley coal bed at New Boston is about 2J feet thick. It does 
not crop out on this tract and has never been opened anywhere in the 
immediate neighborhood, and its thickness hereabouts is quite un¬ 
known. There is no workable coal known below it. 

4. Coal Beds. 

Mammoth Coal Bed. —The Mammoth coal bed has been 
slightly worked on the tract, and extensively so within a short dis¬ 
tance outside, and has been proved by several trial openings inside 
as well as by a great number outside. 

Palmer Tunnel .—The Mammoth coal bed was formerly worked 
in the Kentucky Bank mines from Palmer Tunnel, not only east¬ 
ward, but westward “ 2250 yards ” (Rogers’s Final Report, 1858, 
vol. ii., p. 413); that is, more than a 100 yards into the eastern edge 
of the tract, a statement that agrees with local tradition. Accord¬ 
ing to that report the bed there “averages 20 feet” (p. 103); or 
“its normal thickness is 18 feet” (p. 413); but at 850 yards to 
the west the part worked, supposed to be only one split, had a 
thickness of 7J feet. Mr. H. S. Thompson in his report on the tract, 
cites the original map of the tunnel made in 1853 by Mr. George 
K. Smith, mining engineer, and shows the Mammoth coal bed to 
be 20 feet thick there, and that “ Mr. Smith’s map shows it after 
separating from the top split to be about 9 feet thick with about 8 
feet 9 inches of coal (2 feet of it soft coal) at one place, and 7 feet of 
good coal at another place.” 

Old Air Hole .—Near the western end of the Palmer Tunnel work¬ 
ings and only 60 yards east of the eastern boundary of the broad 
part of the tract, an air hole still gives admission to the old mine; 
and it has been entered by Mr. A. D. W. Smith and many others 
in the past season, as well as in former years. They say that at one 
point there the bed is 17 or 18 feet thick, but with an average ap¬ 
parently of about 12 feet total thickness. He has found in his 
recent elaborate researches for the State Coal Waste Commission that 
235 sections of various coal beds in the southern anthracite field 
give an average of 72 per cent, of coal in the total thickness ; and that 
1144 such sections in the middle anthracite field give an average of 


77 per cent, of coal. A total thickness of 12 feet would therefore 
have probably 9 feet of coal. The sections of the Mammoth mea¬ 
sured in the trial pits of the past season in the tract itself and close 


MAMMOTH BED 


NEAR DRIFT 


SOUTHWESTERN 


4,6 S’N DR’CK WESTERN 



2J5 FIRECLAY 
1. SLATE 
Zfi FIRECLAY 
1„ COAL 


2. SLATE P— 


8,6 


SAND 

ROCK 


„11 COAL 
1,6 SLATE 


3,4 COAL 


SL FIRECLAY 



5,6S'ndrx;k 


1,6 FIRECLAY 
.4 SLATE 
,1114 COAL 

,1 COAL 
.7 COAL 
3 COAL' 


4^COAL 


LOG ROAD 

2, S'NDRC'K 
fi'k COAL 
lllggggLlP2. SLATE 
„1 COAL 



S 5„9 SLATE 




9,9 COAL 


SLATE 


34 COAL 


,2 SLATE 
2p COAL 


3.6S'NDRCK 


SCALE 

10 FEET TOAN INCH 


3,6 


SAND 

ROCK 



J£> SLATE 


COAL 


2.1 


DRIFT Bt). 


5 FIRECLAY 


to it give a slightly larger average percentage of coal in the total 
thickness. 

Blew’s Slopes .—Just inside the eastern boundary of the broad part 
of the tracts there are two small slopes, within a few yards of each 












































































































— 12 — 


other, sunk in 1886 or 1887, and worked by Mr. William Blew. 
The older, eastern one of the two is reported by Mr. H. S. Thomp¬ 
son in November, 1886, to be 110 feet deep, but for the lower 40 
feet already inaccessible, partially fallen closed and full of water. 
He quotes the thickness of the bed at the bottom of that slope as 
“from 9 to 10 feet,” and it was also reported to us as 10 feet; and 
from his investigations hereabouts he takes it at 10 feet. At about 
40 feet from the top of the slope, however, the bed measures about 
5 feet thick, all coal. A total thickness of 10 feet would indicate a 
thickness probably of 7J feet of coal. The roof here is hard sand- 
rock with a few inches of black slate under it; and the floor is dark- 
gray fire-clay about 5 feet, overlying at least 6 feet of sand-rock 
growing harder downwards, and at that depth having pea pebbles. 

Near Old Drift .—At 1100 feet west of Blew’s slopes and near the 
air-hole of the old drift, the Mammoth bed was opened last Octo¬ 
ber on its outcrop, and the following section was measured, from 
above downward : 


Bluish-gray fine hard sand-rock, exposed in the shaft, 8 or 

9 feet, say,. 

Coaly clay,. 

Coal, rather soft at present, ..... 

Coal, bony, . 

Coal, rather soft, .. 

Coal, firm and good, ....... 

Black carbonaceous slate, ...... 

Coal, very hard, good, ...... 

Black slate,. 

Coal, soft,. . 

Dark-gray shalv sand-rock, ..... 

Coaly shale, “ clod,”. . 

Coal, Drift-Bed, 1 foot 8 inches to 2 feet 6 inches, but 
just here, 2 feet to 2 feet 5 inches, say, 

Fire-clay, about,. 


Ft. Ins. 

. 8 ,, 6 
. 0 „ Of 

• 1 „ 2 
. 0„ 4 

. O „ 11 
. 7„ 4 

. 2 „ 1 
. 3 ,, 4 

. 0 „ 2 
• 2 „ 6 
. 9 „ 6 
. 0 „ 9 

• 2 ,, 2.j 

. 5 „ 0 


43 „ 9f 


The lower coal is in the old drift, into which they dug from the 
bottom of the Mammoth, only 7 feet. It is seen, then, that the 
Mammoth bed here is 17 feet 10 inches thick, with 15 feet 7 inches 
of coal. The softer portions of the coal will perhaps be firm at a 
better distance from the outcrop. The shaft is about 28 feet deep 
to the outcrop of the bottom of the bed, and is driven thence hori¬ 
zontally across the bed. The dip near the top of the bed is 37° 
southerly. 










13 — 


Log Road .—At 350 yards further west, on the log road, the 
Mammoth bed was opened in December, 1892, by a trial shaft on 
its outcrop; and the following section was measured, from above 
downward : 


Gray sand-rock exposed in the shaft, about, 
Coal, rather soft (so near the outcrop), 
Black slate rather decomposed, 

Coal, .. 

Black slate, ...... 

Coal,. 

Black slate, ...... 

Coal, „ . . . 

Coal, softer, ...... 

Coal, harder, ..... 

Coal, softer, ...... 

Black slaty fire-clay, .... 

Gray, hard sand-rock, .... 


Ft. Ins. 


. 2 


V 


0 


V 


0 

8 } 


9 

• “ v 


. 0 

. 0 

. 0 

. 0 

. 2 

. 0 


>> 

>> 

V 

>} 

>> 

1 ) 


0 



9 

" >> 


3 


0 

1 

<> 

1 

11 

6 

10 

7 

4 

0 

6 


15 „ 81 


The Mammoth bed has here, then, 5 feet 1J inches of coal in a 
total thickness of 8 feet 2J inches. The softer parts are again 
affected by nearness to the outcrop. The shaft is wholly vertical, 
and 3(1 feet deep to the bottom of the bed. The dip at the top of 
the bed is 70° and at the bottom 55°, both southerly. The diver¬ 
gence shows that it happens to be just at the point of a small local 
squeeze. 

West End of Trad .—At 325 yards still further west and 90 yards 
short of the west boundary, the same bed was opened last July, and 
the following section was measured, from above downward : 



Ft. 

Ins. 

Light-gray sand-rock, ....... 

• 5 „ 

6 

White fire-clay,... 

• 1 „ 

6 

Black slate, . . . .* 

. 0 „ 

4 

Coal, bony, .. 

• 0 „ 

3 

Coal, soft,. 

. 0„ 

81 

Black slate, ......... 

. 0 „ 


Coal, bony,. 

. 0 ,, 

1 

Black slate, 

. 0 „ 

f* 

i 

Coal, good, .. 

• 0„ 

7 

Black slate,.. 

. 0 „ 

3 

Coal, good,. 

• 0„ 

8 

Black slate,. 

• o „ 

4 

Coal, 4 feet 5 inches to 5 feet, say, .... 

• 4„ 

81 

Black slate, with some coal specks, growing hard below, 

. 5 „ 

9 


21 „ 

101 


The lower main bench of coal has at one point an inch of bony 




















14 — 


coal at 10 inches above the bottom. It is seen, then, that the Mam¬ 
moth bed here has from 6 feet 8J inches to 7 feet 3J inches, or say 
a mean of 7 feet of coal, within a total thickness of 9 feet 1 inch. 
The coal is mostly very firm and good; as the distauce from the 
very decomposed outcrop is somewhat better than in the more eastern 
trial shafts and the pit is in a drier situation. The depth here is 35 
feet; and the surface wash was only about 20 feet deep. The dip 
at the bottom is 60° southerly. 

Southivest .—At 250 yards easterly from the southwest corner of 
the tract and 60 yards south of the southern boundary line, the 
Mammoth bed was opened the past season and the following section 
measured, from above downwards : 



Ft 


Ins 

White, tine sand-rock, about,. 

. 4 

» 

6 

Fire-clay, about, ........ 

. 2 


6 

Black slate, about,. 

. 1 


0 

Fire-clay, about,. 

. 2 

>> 

6 

Coal, 9 inches to 1 foot 3 inches, say, .... 

. 1 


O 

Black slate, ......... 

. 2 

a 

0 

Coal, rather soft, .. 

. O 

)) 

11 

Black slate, ......... 

. 1 


6 

Coal, hard, . 

. 3 

>> 

4 

Fire-clay, . 

. 9 

)’ 

0 


28 

)> 

3 


The Mammoth coal-bed then, has here a total thickness of 8 feet 
6 inches or nine feet, say 8 feet 9 inches, with 5 feet or 5 feet 6 
inches, say 5 feet 3 inches of coal. The trial pit is a vertical shaft 
11 feet deep prolonged on the coal bed into a slope about 38 feet 
long, with some digging into the roof at the face. The dip is 20° 
northerly. 

The opening is on the south side of the basin, and as the identity 
of the bed is clear from its very section, as well as from the position 
of the two other well-identified beds opened above it near by, and 
from its own position on its long southern outcrop, fixed here and 
there by numerous trial pits and several extensive mines, it is one 
link in the irrefragable chain of evidence that the rocks of the main 
southern body of the tract do lie simply in the form of a basin. The 
outcrop continues hence eastward around the descending Mine Hill 
anticlinal, and is found on the Brockville and Mahanoy City road 
near the springs, and further to the southeast was formerly opened 
near the top of the axis at several trial shafts, and still further south¬ 
ward and westward was formerly opened with drifts and slopes and 












— 15 — 


extensively mined, as shown on the map. Westward of the two last- 
described openings, the same Mammoth bed was formerly opened by 
three trial pits on the south side of the basin and by one on the north 
side near Big Creek, as shown on the map; and there were also two 
other openings of it further up the creek, 400 yards beyond the 
western limit of the map and near the “ spoon of the basin ” of that 
coal-bed. 

Average Thickness .—From the figures already given some idea of 
the average thickness of the bed on the tract may be obtained, as may 


by the following table: 



Opening. 

Total 

Coal. 


ft. in. 

ft. in. 

Near the old drift, 

. 17 „ 10 

15 „ 7 

On the log road, . * . 

. . 8 ,. 2\ 

5 „ 1 

Near western edge of tract, 

. . 0 ,, 1 

7 „ 0 

At the southwest, 

. 8 „ 9 

5 „ 3 

Sum, to be divided by four, . 

. 43 „ 101 

32 „ 11 

Average, .... 

. 10 „ Ilf 

Mr* 

C<1 

CO 


or say, eight feet and a quarter of coal in a total thickness of eleven 
feet. 

If the reported and estimated thickness of the bed at Blew’s slopes 
and in the adjacent portion of the Kentucky Bank mine be counted, 
as given above, the result is identical: 


Opening. 

Total, 
ft. in. 

Coal, 
ft. in. 

Near west end of Kentucky Bank mine, 

. 12 „ 0 

9 „ 0 

Blew’s Slope bottom, 

. 10 „ 0 

7„6 

Sum, to be divided by two, . 

. 22 „ 0 

16 „ 6 

Average, ..... 

. 11 „ 0 

8„3 


These results may then probably be taken pretty safely as not very 
far from correct, but for greater safety, as well as simplicity, we may, 
in estimating the quantity of coal, take the thickness as only 8 feet. 

Outcrops .—The outcrop of the Mammoth bed has been carefully 
drawn on the map both within and without the tract, taking account 
of the dips, the strikes, the height of the surface of the ground and 
the position of the bed in numerous cross sections (not all of them 
printed), according to the new and old trial pits and mine workings. 
Towards the northeast, however, along the workings of the Ken¬ 
tucky Bank mine, the old crop-falls have been taken as the main 
guide to the places of outcrop. The outcrop has everywhere been 






— 16 


marked as if 20 feet below the surface of the ground, to allow for the 
surface wash that is unusually deep over most of the tract and often 
nearly or quite that depth. In any case, the coal itself is more or 
less decomposed almost everywhere to fully that depth, sometimes 
deeper, especially where the dip is steep and the circulation of water 
abundant. 

Quantity .—Measuring then the portion of the tract underlain by 
the Mammoth bed, we find it to be 95 acres. Taking account of 
the greater extent of the bed itself by reason of its basin shape, we 
find there are 126 acres of the bed. Reckoning 1976.5 tons of coal 
to the acre for every foot of thickness, according to the average spe¬ 
cific gravity of Panther Creek coals, our nearest investigated neigh¬ 
bors, as given (more precisely 1976.583 tons) in Report A A, 1883, 
p. 136, of the State Geological Survey, we have for the number of 
tons of coal in the Mammoth bed, within the tract, 1,990,000 tons. 
Of that amount, 830,000 tons are above the level of 1000 feet above 
the sea : that is, about the level of the main gangway of the Ken¬ 
tucky Bank mine at the eastern edge of the tract, and a level easily 
accessible by tunnels from the south or southeast. The position of 
the middle of the bed at different levels 100 feet apart, as required 
by the numerous cross sections drawn, is marked on the map, and 
clearly shows the basin shape of the bed. The greatest depth of the 
bed below the surface of the ground, anywhere in the tract, is at the 
eastern edge of the tract, and appears to be less than 700 feet. 

Ten-Foot Coal Bed.— Until last October the Ten-Foot bed 
had not been opened anywhere on the tract. One trial opening on 
it was then made, and the place of its outcrop has lately been proved 
at another place. The bed has been formerly opened at several 
places, more or less distant, outside the tract, but is no longer acces¬ 
sible at any of them. 

Near Blew’s Slopes .—The only opening of the Ten-Foot bed on 
the tract is a trial shaft dug last October behind the shanty and 70 
yards north of Blew’s slopes, with the following section from above 


downwards: 

Ft. Ins. 

Sand-rock,.17 „ 0 

Coal dirt, rotten coal, ..O ,, 6 

Coal,.6 „ 7 

Black slate,.0 „ 1^ 

Coal,.3 „ 4£ 

Fire clay, exposed.0 „ 3 


27 „ 10 









— 17 — 


The upper 6 inches of rotten coal may prove to he coal that is 
merely affected by its nearness to the outcrop, and at a greater depth 
may be of passable quality. Leaving it out of account for the pres¬ 
ent, however, we have 9 feet 11J- inches of coal in a total thickness 
of 10 feet 1 inch. The dip here is 30° southerly. The coal is much 
affected by the nearness of the outcrop, but appears to be in charac¬ 
ter intermediate between the Mammoth and the Buck Mountain 
coals. At 36 feet to the north the wholly-decomposed outcrop of 
the bed was found in a trial shaft, with a thickness of 5J feet of 
black dirt, at 5J feet below the surface of the ground. 

On the log road , off from the Mahanoy City road, in the western 
part of the tract, the outcrop of the bed was bored into in the surface 
wash a few days ago, as a test of the map, and found exactly as 
already laid down. Six feet of coal dirt were found, much as at the 
trial shaft just mentioned. 

Other Openings —The same bed occurs at the Newkirk colliery, 
4J miles to the east, and has there a thickness of 10 feet 1 inch in 
the water-level tunnel and 4 feet 1 inch in a lower-lift tunnel. (See 
the State Geol. Survey’s Southern Coal Field Atlas, Part IV., Sheet 
IV., Columnar Sections 5 and 6.) The bed is called there the Bot¬ 
tom Split of the Mammoth. 

Two miles west of the tract, and 400 yards east of Silver Creek 
dam, there are a couple of old openings on the same bed apparently. 
The two holes are 200 yards apart north and south, one on either 
side of the basin. The northern one had, acccording to the notes of 
Mr. P. W. Sheafer, 12 feet of coal with 6 inches of bony at 2 feet 
9 inches above the bottom; consequently with a section much re¬ 
sembling that of the opening on the tract. The southern of the 
two holes had a total thickness of 9 feet 3 inches, with 8 feet 8 
inches of coal. 

South of the tract, and not far from the Sillyman and Potts 
mines, the Ten-Foot bed has been opened at several trial shafts, as 
shown on the map and in the cross-sections; but they are all long 
since fallen shut, and the thickness of the bed is not known. The 
place of the bed there, however, corresponds closely with its place 
as found on the tract, and therefore corroborates well the geology of 
the map. 

Average Thickness .—It appears, then, that the thickness found in 
the only opening of the bed on the tract, and the only one recorded 
within a couple of miles, is not unlike the nearest ones known out¬ 
side of that distance. It is, therefore, perhaps not unsafe to take it 

2 


— 18 — 


as indicating the thickness of the bed throughout the tract, and to 
reckon the average thickness there at 10 feet of coal, within a total 
thickness of 10J feet. 


TEN FOOT BED 


TEN FOOT BED 


AND 


I4,3S’N0R'CK 


BUCK MTN. BED 



WESTERN 



ROAD FORKS 

3J5 COAL 

5^3 FIRECLAY 

.4 SLATE 

I, 10 COAL 

JO SLATE 

II, COAL 


JUST OUTSIDE 


EASTERN 

2 , SHALE 

2,9 COAL 
,2 SLATE 

3,8 COAL 




q.6 COAL 


12, ROCK 


SCALE 


10 FEET TO AN INCH 


Quantity .—The outcrop through the tract was drawn, and the 
area underlain by the bed was found to be 115 acres. Allowing for 
the basin shape, the area of the bed itself was found to be 143J 
acres. Reckoning a thickness of 10 feet and the same specific 
gravity as before, the quantity of coal was found to be 2,840,000 
tons. Of that, 1,400,000 tons are above the level of 1000 feet above 








































































19 — 


the sea. That level was drawn on the manuscript map in order to 
measure the area, but to avoid too great complication is not marked 
on the printed one. 

Buck Mountain Coal Bed. —The Buck Mountain coal bed has 
never been worked on the tract nor anywhere within at least nearly 
2 miles of it, but a number of old and now inaccessible trial pits 
have been sunk upon it east of the tract and to the south beyond 
the Mine Hill anticlinal, and the past season three trial openings of 
it have been made on the tract itself. 

Just Outside East End of Trad. —A dozen yards east of the north¬ 
eastern end of the tract there is an old opening on the Buck Moun¬ 
tain coal bed, with a recorded thickness of 9J feet of coal. 

Northeast Hole. —Sixty yards to the southwest of that, and inside 
of the northeast end of the tract, an old hole on the outcrop of the 
Buck Mountain bed was reopened the past season, and the fol¬ 
lowing section was measured from above downward : 

Ft. Ins. 

Strong sand-rock roof. 

Dark gray shale, about . . ..2 „ 0 

Coal, rotten,.. . . . . 2 „ 9 

Black slate, 4 b feet to 0 inches, say,.0 „ 2 

Coal, rotten,. 3 „ 8 

8 ;, ? 

The bed appears, then, to have here a total thickness of 6 feet 7 
inches, with 6 feet 5 inches of coal. The coal is mostly decomposed 
from nearness to the outcrop, though small pieces showed it to be of 
good quality; but the hole was a wet one and difficult to supply 
with air, and was not driven deeper. The abundant circulation of 
the water has no doubt aided in the decomposition of the coal. The 
hole was a shaft 12 feet 6 inches deep, continued by a slope 25 feet 
long on the coal bed. The dip was 43° southeast. 

Road Forks. —At the forks of an old road, about 300 yards fur¬ 
ther west, another opening of the Buck Mountain coal bed was made 
the past season, and the following section measured from above 
downward: 


Coal, 2 feet 8 inches to 3 feet 10 inches, say, 

Ft. 

. . 3 „ 

Ins. 

/ « 

Gray fire clay,. 

5 „ 

3 

Coaly shale, “clod,” 6 inches to 2 inches, say, 

. 0 „ 

4 

Coal dirt, rotten coal,. 

. I„ 

10 

Slate, decomposed,. 

• 0 „ 

10 

Coal dirt, rotten coal, .. 

. . 1„ 

0 

Fire clay, exposed about. 

• • 3 „ 

6 


16 „ 

0 








— 20 


This was also a very wet hole, and the coal, particularly in the 
lower part, has been much decomposed by the circulation of the 
water. The coal of the upper bench was of good quality, with much 
of the birdseye texture common in the bed. The total thickness of 
the bed is apparently 11 feet 11 inches to 13 feet 1 inch, or, in the 
mean, 12 feet 6 inches, with coal 5 feet 6 inches to 6 feet 8 inches, 
or say 6 feet and 1 inch. The hole was a shaft about 23 feet deep, 
continued by a slope 23 feet long on the lower coal benches, with 
one 25 feet long on the upper bench. The dip was 35° southerly 
in the upper bench and 53° southerly in the lower, with a mean of 
44°—nearly the same as at the eastern hole. 

Western Hole .—At 260 yards easterly from the northwest corner of 
the tract, the Buck Mountain coal bed was opened last summer, and 
the following section was measured from above downward: 

Ft. Ins. 

6 „ 0 
1 „ 2 

4 „ 2 

0 „ 6 
12 „ 0 

23 „ 10 

The bed here is, then, 4 feet 2 inches thick in a single bench, 
though it is possible that another coal bed, some feet higher up, ap¬ 
parently opened formerly in two holes 100 and 170 yards to the 
east, but now inaccessible, might be regarded as an upper split of 
the Buck Mountain bed. The coal of the present hole is of good 
quality, though affected and softened by atmospheric influences. 
The hole is about 35 feet deep, the lower 15, or so, sloping with the 
coal bed. The dip is 66° southerly. 

Crop Boring .—On the 14th of January, 1893, after the map was 
photo-lithographed, the black coal dirt of the outcrop was bored 
through in the surface wash near the point where the cross-section 
line A B, of the map, crosses the outcrop of the Buck Mountain 
bed, about half a mile east of the western trial shaft and about a 
third of a mile west of the one at the road forks, and the essential 
accuracy of the outcrop as laid down was proved. The borings 
appear to show that the bed is there in two benches some 14 feet 
apart horizontally, confirming the conclusion already arrived at that 
there is an upper bench just south of the western trial shaft. The 
black coal dirt of the northern, or geologically lower, boring was 
found 2 feet thick at 18 feet below the surface, and that of the 


Gray sand-rock, . 
Blackish shale, about . 
Coal, .still rather soft, . 
Fire clay, about . 

Hard rock, bored, 







21 — 


southern, or geologically upper one, 6 feet thick; but the real thick¬ 
ness of the two benches cannot be known without actual digging, 
and perhaps even their relative thickness is not indicated by those 
numbers. The northern boring was inside the narrow markings of 
the outcrop on the map, perhaps slightly south of its centre line; 
the southern one was close outside the southern edge of the same 
marking. The real outcrop of the lower bench at the boring may 
be a few feet further north and thicker there, and the true position 
of the bench in place, below the wash, may be not only, as already 
appears, within a very few feet or inches of the point indicated by 
the map, but exactly there. Boring here was undertaken, like the 
Ten-Foot crop boring on the log road, as a severe test of the map at 
a somewhat difficult point, but was delayed by rough weather. The 
result shows great regularity in the coal measures hereabouts. 

South of the Tract .—The Buck Mountain coal bed was formerly 
opened at a number of holes on the south side of the Mine Hill an¬ 
ticlinal, not far from Sillyman’s slope; but none of them are now 
accessible, and there is no record of their sections. Their place, 
however, as shown in our map and cross-sections, fully agrees with 
the positions of the beds on the tract, and confirms our geological 
interpretation of the facts observed. 

Neighboring Mines .—The State Geological Survey’s Southern 
Coal Field Columnar Section Sheet IV. gives the thickness of the 
Buck Mountain coal bed at several neighboring mines as follows:— 
At Buckville, 3 miles to the northeast, in two splits, 8 feet 10 
inches above and 6 feet 3 inches below, separated by 15 feet (slate 3 
feet 9 inches; sand-rock, 6 feet 3 inches and slate 5 feet), making 15 
feet 1 inch in all of the two splits. At Newkirk, 4J miles to the north¬ 
east of the tract, 17 feet in the water-level tunnel, and 12 feet 3 inches 
in another. In the Northdale tunnel of the Ivaska William colliery, 
2J miles to the southwest of the tract, 6 feet 4 inches; besides another 
split, 21 feet 6 inches (of hard sandstone) higher up, 3 feet 1 inch 
thick, shelly coal; and another, 12 feet 8 inches (of slate) still 
higher, 6 feet 5 inches, coal dirt and slate. Moreover, in Sharp 
Mountain, where the identity of beds is less certain :—At Gorman’s 
colliery water-level tunnel, less than 2 miles southeast of the tract, 
10 feet 10 inches. At Bell’s tunnel, over 2 miles southeast of the 
tract, 2 feet 6 inches—perhaps more doubtful in identity than the 
others. At Reevesdale, 3f miles east of the tract, 11 feet 11 inches. 
The bed is generally, in the whole region, a very important one in 
thickness as well as in quality. 


— 22 — 


Average Thickness .—Taking the thickness of the Buck Mountain 
coal bed, as given above at only the four openings in the northern 
part of the tract and just outside, and leaving out of account the 
recent very encouraging crop-boring, we have the following table, 
with an alternative column for the extreme supposition that the re¬ 
corded 9 feet 6 inches may have been intended to mean the total 
thickness of the bed, and that the coal, as in the case of the Mam¬ 
moth, may be only three-quarters as much : 


Opening. 

Total, in feet 
and inches. 

Coal, in feet 
and inches. 

i 

Or Coal, in ft. 
and inches. 

Just Outside. 

9„G 

9„6 

7„U 

Northeast. 

6„7 

6 „ 5 

G„ 5 

Road Forks. 

12 „ 6 

G„1 

6„1 

Western. 

4„2 

4„2 

4 „ 2 

Sum to be divided by four. 

32 „ 9 

26 „ 2 

23 „ 9i 

Average.. 

8 ,,21: 

6 „ 6j 

5„ Ilf 


Taking the thickness as given above for the nearest neighboring 
mines, and counting in even those of more doubtful identity and 
least thickness, we have: 


Mines. 
Buckville, 
Newkirk, . 
Newkirk, . 
Northdale, 
Reevesdale, 
Gorman’s,. 
Bell’s tunnel, 


Ft. Ins. 
. 15 „ 1 

. 17 „ 0 

• 12 ,, 3 
. 15 „ 10 
. 11 „ 11 
. 10 „ 10 

• 2 „ 6 


Sum to be divided by 7, 
Average, 


. 85 „ 5 
. 12 „ 


Leaving out the three somewhat doubtful Sharp Mountain beds, 
we have: 


Mines. Ft. Ins. 

Buckville,.. . 15 „ 1 

Newkirk,.17 „ 0 

Newkirk,.. . . 12 „ 3 

Northdale tunnel,.15 „ 10 


Sum to be divided by 4,.60 ,, 2 

Average,.15 „ 0£ 







































— 23 


It seems then, that, although it is hardly possible, that the four 
holes on the northern outcrop of the bed, in the tract and close to it, 
with their comparatively small thickness, give a fair average for the 
wide extent southward of this great bed through the tract, it would 
be, at any rate, safe to count on 6 feet in thickness as the average for 
the whole area. 

Quantity .—The outcrop of the bed has been drawn, as in the case 
of the other beds, and the portion of the tract underlain by the 
bed has been measured, and found to be 148 acres. Allowing for 
the basin-shape, the area of the bed itself is found to be 1824 acres. 
Taking the average thickness at 6 feet, and the specific gravity the 
same as given above for the other beds, the coal is seen to amount 
to 2,170,000 tons; of that amount 850,000 tons are above the level 
of 1000 feet above the sea. That level, though not on the printed 
map, was drawn on the manuscript for purposes of measurement. 

The lowest point on the bed in the tract is at the eastern boundary, 
and is about 850 feet from the surface. 

Other Coal Beds. —The other coal beds are in part workable, 
and in part very useful in studying out the geology of the tract. 

Orchard Coal Bed .—The Orchard (or Grier) coal bed is re¬ 
ported by Rogers (vol. ii., p. 414), to have at the Palmer tunnel 
an average thickness of 6 feet of good coal; and it was formerly 
worked also at the Swift Creek mines, and half a mile south of the 
tract. It has never been opened on the tract itself, but would 
seem to exist there, in the middle of the basin, next to the eastern 
boundary. Its area, however, would appear to be only 4 acres 
of the tract and 5 acres of bed surface; and consequently it would 
amount only to about 60,000 tons. 

Primrose Coal Bed .—The Primrose coal bed is an important 
bed at the Palmer Tunnel, and Rogers (p. 414) says it has “from 
8 to 16 feet of coarse bird’s-eye coal.” It has, however, the past 
season, been opened on its outcrop a dozen yards outside the 
eastern boundary of the tract and found to have there only a thick¬ 
ness of 15 inches, with a dip of 64° southerly. It is also clearly 
the upper bed in the old diamond drill hole near Little Creek, on 
the tract, and was found there to have a thickness of only about 21J 
inches. Though it was formerly mined at the Swift Creek mines 
and half a mile south of the tract, and though it may possibly be of 
workable thickness towards its southern outcrop on the tract, it 
would nevertheless not be safe to count upon it as a workable bed 
here. It is useful, however, as a guide to the geology of the tract, 


24 — 


and a confirmation of the explanation given by our map and sec¬ 
tions; it was formerly opened by trial pits at several points to the 
southwest near the Potts and Sillyraan mines, and at every place 
inside and outside of the tract, agrees perfectly in position with its 
place in the Palmer Tunnel section. 

Holmes Coal Bed .—The Holmes (or Palmer) coal bed was for¬ 
merly worked at the Palmer Tunnel, and Rogers (p. 414) says it 
“ averages ten feet of good coal ” there ; but at some 630 yards to the 
west it could not be traced further, having no doubt grown thin. 
On the tract, however, it has been opened the past season on the 
outcrop at the foot of the hill 300 yards southwest of Blew’s slopes, 
and found to have only 19 inches of coal with about 4 feet of black 
slate above and as much below, and with a dip of 74° southerly. 
It was likewise opened at its “ spoon of the basin ” 580 yards to the 
west, and found to have there a thickness of 17 inches, with a dip 
of 7° southerly. Likewise, again, it was opened 35 yards south of 
that, and found to have a thickness of 18 inches, with a dip of 6° 
easterly. Another hole a dozen yards further south, and four other 
holes in a line northward from the last-described hole towards the 
preceding one were formerly dug on the same bed, but are now in¬ 
accessible. The same bed was also bored through at the old dia¬ 
mond drill hole, the second coal bed from the top, and found to be 
about 11 inches thick. Of course, so thin a bed is not to be counted 
on as workable within the tract, though it is barely possible that the 
thickness may be better along the southern outcrop towards the 
eastern boundary. 

The great use of the bed here is its aid in proving the geology of 
the tract. Its course between the eastern opening and the northern 
one at the “spoon of the basin is so closely parallel with that of 
the Mammoth bed, well indicated by the numerous trial shafts, and 
the steepness of the dip leaves so little room for question, and the 
correspondence in distance apart of the two beds in every cross sec¬ 
tion is so exact, and the opening on the Primrose bed comes in so 
perfectly as confirmation, that no doubt whatever can remain of the 
identity of the beds of the diamond drill hole, which by their per¬ 
fect agreement give still further corroboration. The perfect agree¬ 
ment again of the same beds in the cross sections half a mile to the 
south makes the identification yet more convincing, if possible. In 
addition, there is further corroboration in the position at all points 
of the coal bed next to be described. 

“ Top Split of the Mammoth .”—The bed that is hereabouts, some- 


— 25 


% 


times called the Top Split of the Mammoth, and sometimes the Seven 
Foot bed, seems to be everywhere, from the Palmer tunnel through 
the tract to the Potts and Sillyman mines on the southwest, so very 
closely at a uniform distance of 90 feet above the main Mammoth 
bed, center to center, as perhaps hardly to justify calling it a split of 
this bed. That uniformity of distance at so many points is a valu¬ 
able confirmation of the geological explanation of the tract. 

The so-called split has the past season been opened on the log 
road just off from the Mahanoy City or Locust Valley road, and 
had there the following section, from above downward : 


Black slate, 

Coal, . 

Coaly black clay, “ clod,” 
Coal, . 

Black slate, 

Coal, . 


Clay, • 

Reddish gray sand-rock, 



Ft. Ins. 
0 „ 1 

0„ 4 

1 „ 3 

1 „ 0 

0 „ 1 

2 „ 5 

1 „ 6 
2 „ 6 


9 „ 2 


The coal, then, is 3 feet 9 inches thick, within a total thickness 
of 5 feet 1 inch. The coal is of very good quality, though somewhat 
unfavorably affected by atmospheric influences. The hole is a shaft 
19 feet deep prolonged into a slope on the coal bed 23 feet long. 

The same coal bed was also opened last summer inside the south¬ 
west corner of the tract, and had the following section from above 
downward : 



Ft. 

Ins, 

Reddish gray sand-rock, exposed. 

. o„ 

6 

Black dirt, rotten coal, . ... • . 

• 

4 

Coal, hard and good,. 

• 2 „ 

0 

Black fire-clay, exposed, about. 

• 0 „ 

6 


4 „ 

G 


The coal here, then, is at least 2 feet thick; but apparently the 
black dirt above it is merely coal, perhaps somewhat slaty, decom¬ 
posed by atmospheric influences, and should be added to the rest, 
making a thickness of 3 feet 4 inches, in the same total thickness. 

At the old diamond drill hole, a thickness of only about 9 inches 
was found for this bed according to the record. It is, of course, not 
impossible that the bed should be thinner there ; but it is also per¬ 
haps possible that a portion of the bed may have been overlooked. 

At the Palmer tunnel, this bed is given by Rogers (vol. ii., p. 103) 
as 5J feet thick; and by the present State Geological Survey’s South- 











— 26 — 


ern Coal Field Columnar Section Sheet IV., as 5 feet. The same 
sheet gives it as 5 feet and 5 feet 2 inches in two tunnels at Buck- 
ville, and as 4 feet 10 inches at the Northdale tunnel, and 4 feet at 
the Kaska William shaft. 

It is certain then, that the bed is of workable thickness and qual¬ 
ity on the tract at the log road, and on the whole quite probably so 
all over its area on the tract with an average thickness of 3J feet 
(the mean of 3 feet 9 inches and 3 feet 4 inches). As the portion 
of the tract underlain by the bed is 81 acres, and the area of the bed 
itself (allowing for the basin shape) is 102J acres there would be, at 
a thickness of 3J feet, 710,000 tons. 

Drift Cool Bed .—The Drift coal bed was formerly opened by the 
old drift, 84 yards long, just east of Little Creek ; and is of good 
quality; and had there a thickness of 20 to 30 inches. Its section 
is shown in the figure of the Mammoth bed columnar sections. 

The same bed was the past season opened 52 feet north of Blew’s 
eastern slope, at a geological depth of about 45 feet below the Mam- 


moth bed ; and had the following section, from above downward : 

Ft. Ins. 

Black dirt, 0 to 3 inches, say, .... 

• . 0 „ 

n 

Black hard fire-clay, ...... 

. . 1 „ 

3 

Coal, rotten, 1 foot 8 inches to 2 feet 6 inches, say, 

2 „ 

3 “ 

1 

51 


The bed, then, has a mean of 2 feet 1 inch of coal, in one bench. 
Although a bed of coal of good quality, as seen in the long drift just 
mentioned, it shows here the great power of atmospheric influences at 
the very bottom of the hole. The hole is about 8 feet deep, prolonged 
22 feet further in a slope on the bed. The dip is 58° southerly. 

The same bed was opened formerly at the tunnel close by Silly- 
man’s slope, half a mile south of the tract, and was a few years ago 
still accessible, and was measured by Mr. F. A. Hill, then in charge 
of the anthracite survey of the State Geological Survey, as follows, 
from above downward : 

Ft. Ins. 


Slate, 

Coal, shelly, 
Coal, 

Coal, shelly, 
Fire-clay, soft, 
Hard slate, 
Coal, shelly, 
Coal, 

Coal, shelly, . 
Slate bottom. 


. 0 


G 

. O 

>> 

4 

. 0 

V 

5 

. 0 

yy 

3 

. 1 

V 

8 

. 1 

yy 

o 

Aa 

. 1 

V 

10 

. 1 

yy 

0 

. 1 

>y 

4 




8 „ 6 









— 27 — 


The bed then, contains here 5 feet 2 inches of coal within a total 
thickness of 8 feet. 

The bed was formerly opened at three holes south of Big Creek 
within a quarter of a mile west of the southwest corner of the tract; 
but they are inaccessible and there is no record of the thickness of 
coal found. 

The bed is no doubt the same as the one called the Skidmore at 
Morea, with a total thickness of 3 feet G inches, and at New Boston, 
with a thickness of 5 feet 4 inches within a total of G feet 4 inches, 
an average of four well-scattered sections. 

It is therefore, by no means improbable that, although the bed is 
at present not of workable thickness at the old drift and at Blew’s 
slopes, yet some portions of the extent of the bed within the tract 
may hereafter be found to be 3 feet or more in thickness. Even the 
average at those two places, 2 feet and 1 inch, with coal of such 
good quality may prove to be workable at some not extremely dis¬ 
tant day. 

It underlies 98 j- acres of the tract, with 122 acres of the bed 
itself; and at an average thickness of 3 feet would contain 720,000 
tons. 

Spring Coal Bed .—The Spring coal bed was opened last summer 
at a trial shaft 65 feet northerly from the western opening of the 
Buck Mountain bed, and the following section was measured from 
above downward: 


Ft. Ins. 

Conglomerate,. 

Coal, rotten,.3 „ 0 

Hard rock,. 

The coal was still soft and rotten, from the effect of atmospheric 
influences, particularly the percolating water; but at a greater depth 
will probably prove to be firm coal. The hole was a vertical shaft 
20J feet deep. The dip was perhaps 80J° southerly. 

No other opening of the bed is known in the immediate neighbor¬ 
hood of the tract; but, as already mentioned, the bed is known at 
Morea. 

The Spring coal bed underlies about 155 acres of the tract; or, 
allowing for the basin shape, has an area of about 191 acres of bed 
surface; and, if its thickness should average three feet, as it was 
found at the only opening on the tract, would contain 1,130,000 
tons. 





— 28 — 


LyJcens Valley Coal Bed .—The Lykens Valley coal bed has never 
been opened on the tract nor anywhere near it, and its thickness here 
is quite unknown. At New Boston it has a thickness of about 2 
feet 7 inches. Near Tamaqua it was opened by a long drift; but 
there appears to be no record of the thickness. 

It is then, perhaps safe to count on a thickness of 2J feet for the 
bed here; and as it underlies the whole tract, there would be, 
allowing for the basin-shape, about 257J acres of the bed, or 1,270,- 
000 tons. 

The quality of the coal of this bed is reckoned very good, and it 
may therefore be found to be workable at no very distant day. Its 
least depth below the surface of the ground, in the valley of Little 
Creek at the northern edge of the tract would be about 250 feet; and 
its greatest depth at the bottom of the basin on the eastern edge of 
the tract would be about 1275 feet. 

5. Summary of Workable Coal. 

The coal of the three principal beds may be summarized in the 
following table : 


Bed. 

Average 

Thickness. 

Horizontal, 

Acres. 

Bed 

Surface, 

Acres. 

j Tons 
in all. 

' 

Tons above 
1000 foot 
Level. 

Mammoth . 

8 

95 

126 

1,990,000 

830,000 

Ten Foot. 

10 

115 

143* 

2,840,000 

1,400,000 

Buck Mountain. 

6 

148 

182J 

2,170,000 

850,000 


24 

148 

452 

7,000,000 

3,080,000 

To that amount might be added the following : 



Acres. 

Acres. 



Orchard. 

6 

4 

5 

60,000 

Probably. 

Top Split of Mammoth. 

3} 

81 

im 

710,000 

Perhaps. 

Drift (or Skidmore). 

3 

98J 

122 

720,000 

Possibly. 

Spring. 

3 

155 

191 

1,130,000 

Perhaps. 

Lykens Valley. 


208 

2571 

1,270,000 

Perhaps. 


15 

208 

678 

3,890,000 



If this last more or less doubtful amount should be counted, the 
tract would have a total of 10,890,000 tons. 

















































29 — 


6. Mining and Shipment. 

It is seen from the map, as well as from the foregoing pages, that 
the coal of the tract is still practically untouched, as far as mining is 
concerned; that the three principal beds lie wholly within 850 feet 
of the surface and the Mammoth within 700 feet of it; that over 
3,000,000 tons of the whole amount are above the level of 1000 feet 
above the sea; that this level is about that of the old Kentucky 
Bank main drainage gangway at the eastern boundary of the tract, 
and is also accessible by a tunnel 420 yards long from Little Creek, 
500 yards long from Big Creek, or 1000 yards long from Swift 
Creek; that a very large share of each bed has comparatively gentle 
dips, and no part of them has steeper dips than are common through¬ 
out the southern anthracite field, with seldom an approach to verti¬ 
cally and never an overturning; that the beds are not generally of 
such great thickness as to occasion a large percentage of waste in 
mining; and that there is no evidence whatever of any faults, none 
even of small ones. 

The nearest existing railroad line is shown at the southern edge of 
the map, a siding of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad f of a 
mile from Brockville station, and f of a mile by Little Creek val¬ 
ley from the middle of the main basin of the coal-beds. Brockville 
station is by rail 9 miles from Mt. Carbon, and 102 miles from 
Philadelphia; 6 miles from Tamaqua, 22 miles from Mauch Chunk, 
143 miles from Jersey City. 

The tract might be approached from the Reading Railroad Line 
by Little Creek or Big Creek ; or by a line 2f miles long from 750 
yards above Brockville over the old grading, 1J mile long, past the 
Swift Creek mines ; or by a line 2| miles long from 700 yards above 
Tuscarora over the old grading, 1^ miles long, past the Kentucky 
Bank mines, and thence by a nearly level route to the tract. 

The central part of the main basin of the tract, is 5 miles from 
the Pennsylvania Railroad at the Morea breaker, over a not very 
uneven country ; and likewise 4 miles from New Boston Junction. 

It is also 3 miles in a straight line from the Central Railroad of 
New Jersey at East Mahanoy Tunnel. 

7. Map and Sections. 

The cross-sections printed herewith give additional confirmation 
of the geological structure shown in the map, and show that all 
the important beds have been opened south of the Mine Hill anti- 


— 30 — 


clinal, and that they almost invariably maintain with remarkable 
precision the same distance apart from one another as on the tract 
and at the Palmer Tunnel. 

The outlines of the tract, the important roads and trial pits were 
laid down on the map by Mr. Ilowell T. Fisher under the direction 
of Mr. A. DW. Smith from a very accurate transit survey made 
by Mr. Fisher last summer, with rectangular co-ordinates computed 



and closing extremely well; and he also computed the area of the 
tract from them. Mr. Charles J. Wright, likewise under Mr. 
Smith’s special guidance, did much surveying of the other features, 
adding to the work already done by the State Geological Survey. 
Mr. Wright drew the contour lines, copying the topography from 
the original note books, with my own supervision and correction. 
I worked out the final details of the geology and drew the outcrops, 
the equidistant strike curves and the cross-sections, aided by Mr. 
Smith’s very intelligent criticism, and everywhere with our full final 
agreement. 

The map was drawn on a scale of 300 feet to an inch, and in 
photo-lithographing was reduced to 800 feet to an inch. 

We have a strong personal interest in the tract; but, of course, our 
professional reputation is, still more important to us, and the facts 































We hold the Shippen and Wetherill tract under an option, with 
the expectation of completing the purchase, and anybody desiring 
to interest himself in operating the tract, or to lease, or buy it, may 
address us directly. 

Benj. Smith Lyman, 

A. DW. Smith. 

Philadelphia, January 18,1893. 


-31- 


have been set down impartially and correctly, it is believed; and, 
at any rate, they can readily be verified by any skilled geologist. Any 
such expert will surely admit our deductions from the facts to be in¬ 
contestable, and to give not merely the most natural explanation but 
the only possible consistent one. The former bad success of explo¬ 
rations on the tract, with so many barren trial pits now clearly seen 
to be within a few feet of excellent coal beds, has forced us to make 
the present exploration much more thorough than is commonly con¬ 
sidered necessary before the actual opening of mines, and has required 
an unusually complete, irrefutable demonstration in the report and 
map. 

Benj. Smith Lyman. 

708 Locust Street, Philadelphia, January 18, 1893. 

I concur fully in the foregoing report, 

A. I)W. Smith. 

Room 18, 4th Floor, Post Office Building, Philadelphia, January 18,1893. 


% 


[FROM TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF MINING ENGINEERS.] 


AN OCCURRENCE OF COARSE CONGLOMERATE ABOVE 
THE MAMMOTH ANTHRACITE-BED. 

BY BENJAMIN SMITH LYMAN, PHILADELPHIA, PA. 

(Schuylkill Valley Meeting, Reading, October, 1892.) 

It is a time-honored saying in the anthracite region that u under 
the conglomerate there is no coal and the adage is generally 
reckoned a sure guide in coal-exploration. Yet there are many 
places where conglomerate, even coarse conglomerate, occurs above 
important coal beds, and, among others, above the great Mammoth 
bed. One of the most striking of such occurrences is on the Shippen 
and Wetherill tract, half a dozen miles west of Tamaqua; and it 
illustrates remarkably the disastrous effect of a too unquestioning 
blind confidence in the sweeping literal truth of a broad generaliza¬ 
tion. 

Here there is a conspicuous crag formed by a twenty-foot bed of 
egg-conglomerate, dipping 60 degrees southerly, and jutting out 
boldly at the western end of a hill, where it is cut through by the 
small stream of Little Creek. The hill runs eastward for half a 
mile, with occasional exposures of pebbly rock along the western half 
of the crest. Eastward from the exposures lies the old Kentucky 
Bank mine, abandoned thirty years ago, where the Mammoth bed 
was worked down to water-level through a space of a mile and a 
quarter westward from the Palmer tunnel to the very edge of the 
Shippen and Wetherill tract, apparently just below where the east¬ 
ern prolongation of the same conglomerate should be, though, in fact, 
it is not exposed. Indeed, in the Palmer tunnel itself, its place is 
recorded in Rogers’s Final State Geological Report of 1858, vol ii., 
p. 108, as filled by “ hard pebbly rock.” 

Many, however, doubted whether the Mammoth could continue 
undisturbed westward under the egg-conglomerate crags. It was 
believed by many that there must be a great fault that had brought 
up the coarse Pottsville conglomerate of the bottom of the produc¬ 
tive coal-measures, and had cut off all southern extension of the 
Mammoth ; and that even the Buck Mountain bed and its compan¬ 
ions, that should overlie that conglomerate, had been reduced in 
thickness to the insignificant beds that were found there. 

A few were more hopeful, and tried to prove the continued exist- 


33 — 


ence of the Mammoth by actual opening. About five years ago, it 
is said, two brothers, who owned a farm, spent their whole substance 
vainly in persistent efforts with trial-shafts and drifts to open the 
Mammoth bed, just north of the westernmost egg-conglomerate crag, 
and some 25 feet geologically below it. Their best success was 
to find a seam of coal there, which they took to be the Mammoth, and 
upon which they drifted eastward for more than eighty yards; but 
it was only 20 inches thick, swelling up in places to 30 inches. 
Had they dug only ten feet higher in the measures, they would 
have found the Mammoth bed with a thickness of about 18 feet, 
with 15 feet 7 inches of coal, where it was opened last week. 

Two or three years after their failure, an unsuccessful attempt was 
made by others, at an expense of four or five thousand dollars, they 
say, to find the Mammoth by boring with a diamond-drill, 200 
yards southward from the egg-conglomerate crag. After boring 
through two or three coal beds of trifling thickness, a great mass of 
conglomerate, and at length a few feet of sandstone, the hole was 
abandoned in despair at the depth of 470 feet. A comparison of the 
drill section with that of the Palmer tunnel shows that less than 30 
feet more would have reached the top of the Mammoth bed. The 
upper beds are, it is true, remarkably reduced in thickness; but they 
are in their appropriate places, and have now recently been proved 
of like small thickness, with quite consistent dips, by trial-shafts on 
the outcrop. 

Indeed the geological structure has been fully demonstrated to be 
essentially what the State Geological Survey map (Mine-Sheet V.), 
published two or three years ago, showed it to be, in the face of the 
conflicting opinions then rife. The crag in question is on the north 
side of a basin that is bounded on the south by the Mine Hill 
anticlinal, rapidly sinking to the east. The mere topography shows 
that the conglomerate-beds above the Mammoth extend 350 yards 
westward from the crag, though less prominent there; then bend 
round, in shape like the end of a spoon, forming the divide between 
Little Creek and Big Creek; then pass eastward again, making a 
decided ridge with low cliffs; and soon again bend southward, and 
even westward, round the Mine Hill anticlinal to the neighborhood 
of the old Potts and Sillyman slopes, just north of Patterson. On 
the Locust Valley road up the hill, past the old Mammoth working 
of those mines, there are ample exposures of the conglomerate-beds 
in question; only the pebbles are smaller than at the crag, though 

in part as large as walnuts. Nowhere is there anything whatever 

3 


to indicate the existence of any such great fault as was imagined to 
account for the egg-conglomerate of the crag. 

This is a case in which the needless resort to a fault to account for 
appearances, as if a fault were the commonest and easiest thing in 
the world, has led to heavy pecuniary loss. For, as the fault ex¬ 
plained so readily the repeated failure to work out the geology of the 
tract, it very naturally led to a general belief among the (not too 
geological) business community that the tract contained but a small 
fraction of the coal now proved really to exist there; and conse¬ 
quently no capitalist could be found willing to purchase it, even at a 
very low price. 

There are numerous other places where coarse conglomerate is 
found within a short distance above the Mammoth bed. Conspicu¬ 
ous among them is the Silver Creek district, only four miles west of 
the Shippen and Wetherill tract. Rogers’s Final Report, 1858, 
vol. ii., p. 228, speaks of “ the egg- and nut-conglomerate which 
overlies ” what is now known to be the Mammoth bed. See also his 
Silver Creek section on Plate 1 of vol. ii. The assistants of the 
first Geological Survey were at first much puzzled by the conglo¬ 
merate thereabouts, as they were then tyros; and they too devised 
faults to explain the observed facts; but later, with increased experi¬ 
ence, they understood better. Rogers, further on (p. 229), speaks 
of the corresponding rock beds on Mill creek as “coarse pebbly 
sandstone/’ 

On the Rielde tract, next west of Morea, there is exposed a great 
ledge of coarse conglomerate, overlying the Mammoth bed, which 
was formerly opened some 20 feet thick at not many yards distance. 

At the Otto colliery, near Branchdale, the occurrence of an ex¬ 
tremely coarse conglomerate between two splits of the Mammoth 
bed gave rise to much controversy as to the identity of the beds ; and 
the question was only settled by actual mining. 

Many other cases of conglomerate over the Mammoth may be seen 
marked on Sheets IV., V., VI., IX., and X., of the State Geo¬ 
logical Survey’s Atlas of the Southern Anthracite Coal-Field, as 
follow: 

At Kaska William colliery, between the middle (or “ upper ”) 
and lower splits of the Mammoth “conglomerate.” Sh. IV., Sect. 
15 . 

At St. Clair shaft, over the Seven-Foot (or top split of the Mam¬ 
moth) “conglomerate.” Sh. V., Sect. 7. 

At Thomaston colliery, over the Daniel bed (or lower split of the 


— 35 —- 


Mammoth), in the water-level tunnel, much “conglomerate/’ and « 

“ hard conglomerate.” Sh. VI., Sect. 6, Also at the first lift, much 
“ conglomerate.” Sh. VI., Sect. 9. 

At the Oakdale colliery, over the same bed, at shaft-level, much 
“ conglomerate.” Sh. VI., Sect. 10. 

At Payne’s colliery, over the same bed, much “ conglomerate.” 

Sh. VI., Sect. 13. 

At Richardson’s colliery, over the same bed, a little “ conglom¬ 
erate.” Sh. VI., Sect. 14. 

At Greenwood tunnel, over the same bed, “ very hard conglom¬ 
erate.” Sh. VI., Sect. 17. 

At South Pine colliery (near the Otto), over the top split of the 
Mammoth, “ conglomerate,” 24J feet. Sh. X., Sect. 2. 

At the Middle Creek colliery, over the same bed, “ conglomerate.” 

Sh. X., Sect. 3. \ 

At the Colket colliery, over the Four-Foot bed (or top split of the 
Mammoth), “ fine conglomerate.” Sh. X., Sect. 6. 

At the East Franklin colliery, over the Mammoth, “ conglom¬ 
erate.” Sh. X., sect. 9 and 10. 

Also, at the same colliery, over the Blackheath (or Holmes) bed, 

“ coarse conglomerate,” 18 feet, and “ fine conglomerate,” 19 feet. . 

Sh. X., Sect. 9. 

At the Good Spring colliery, over the same bed, “ coarse conglom¬ 
erate,” 7 feet. Sh. X., Sect. 9. 

These instances, from the southern field alone, are enough to show 
that it is by no means a rare exception for the sand-rock above the 
Mammoth to become pebbly, and even to be a coarse or extremely 
coarse conglomerate. 

It would be interesting to inquire what might have been the cause 
of the laying down of beds of such coarse material, that must have 
been moved by violent currents during comparatively short intervals, 
in the midst of the generally very quiet deposition of the Coal- 
measures. It is, however, imaginable, that the temporary obstruc¬ 
tion of a sea-channel in one direction might cause a very rapid cur¬ 
rent in some other direction ; or, the current might arise from the 
removal of some obstruction. It would not be necessary that the 
obstruction, or its removal, should occur through any especially vio¬ 
lent earth movements. A channel might, by degrees, become ob¬ 
structed with silt or sand, or another might, by gradual denudation, 
become sufficiently opened for the passage of currents that would 
rapidly enlarge it. 


36 — 


In any case, the causes of the coarse conglomerates would seem to 
have had no influence upon the thickness of the coal beds a few yards 
beneath, as is amply seen in the cases just described ; and none upon 
beds equally near above, as is shown by the good thickness of the 
Buck Mountain coal bed, one of the thickest anthracite coal beds, 
though close over the Pottsville conglomerate; the variable thickness 
of the coal not seeming to correspond in the least with the coarseness 
or fineness of the pebbles. 



TEN FEET APART 


IN LEVEL, COUNT FROM MEAN SEA LEV 

EL. THE LEVELLING IS BASED ON THE P. a. R. R. R LEVEL AT BROCKVILLE. I 

THE UNDERGROUND WORKINGS OF THE ADJOINING TRACTS ARE COP- : 

IED FROM THE MINE MAPS, AS PUBLISHED BY THE STATE GEO- v 
LOGICAL SURVEY. HOWELL T. FISHER SURVEYED THE BOUN- \ 

DARIES; 


/ SH ANTYi 

BLfWS SlyOPESj 


AND CHAS. J. WRIGHT OTHER FEATURES. AD¬ 
DING TO FORMER WORK BY THE STATE SURVEY. 




III'"" 1 ’ 


THE 

DIAMOND 
DRILL HOLE, 

CORRECTED FOR 
A DIP OF 23 7/8*. 


I AM 


PALMER TUNNEL 

ACC'G TO H D ROGERS. 
GEOL OF PA., 185 6, 
VOL II, P 103 
primrose 

BED 9,. o 


COAL 1, , 91 
FIRECLAY 1, , 9-^ 
SANORr 1, , 4' 
CONCL. 18, ,11 
SANDR’K 5,, 6' 
CONOL 3,, 7 
SANDR’K 7,, 4 
SLATE 17,, 4 


109..0 
THE PRIMROSE 
BEO AND THIS 
INTERVAL ARE 
FROM VOL. II, 
P 106 


SANDR’K 5,, 6 
CONOL 14,, 7 


SANDP’K 13,, 8 


COAL OF WORKABLE BEDS 


CONCL 9,,2 


SANDR’K 18,, 1 
COAL ,,11\ 

FIRE CLAY1, , 9" 
SANDR’K 15. ,6 


BE 0 AV. TH'K 
MAMMOTH 8 FT. 
TEN FOOT 10 ,, 
BUCK MTN. 6 ,, 
ALL THREE~2A ,, 


HORIZONTAL 
95 ACRES 
115 ,, 

’48 


TONS. 

1 990 000 

2 840 000 
2 1 70 0 00 


CONCL. 4, ,7 
SANDR’K 9,, 2 


\ V\ SYMBOLS:- . TRIAL SHAFT WITH COAL, a TRIAL SHAFT 
\\ ' WITHOUT COAL. CROP-FALLS. THE OUTCROPS ARE DRAWN 

AS IF AT 20 FEET BELOW THE SURFACE OF THE GROUND TO ALLOW 
A ONE-BARBED ARROW SHOWS THE STRIKE, THE BARB 


7 000 000 

UNKNOWN AREAS OF OTHER BEDS ARE ALSO OF 
WORKABLE THICKNESS AND QUALITY; AND SO POSSIBLY 
IS THE LYKENS VALLEY BED UNDER THE 'WHOLE TRACT. 


J FOR THE WASH 

—''"SHOWS WHICH SIDE THE DIP iSt AND THE ANGLE THE AMOUNT OF DIP, A BREAK 
IN EITHER LINE SHOWS ROUGH MEASUREMENT; TWO BREAKS, AN ESTIMATE. 


COAL 2.. 0 


ACROSS THE BaSIN 


SECTION across the Basin and Saddle 


HARD PEBBLY 
ROCK 58,. 


COAL 9. 

FIRECLAY 2, ,0- 
SANDR’K 14, , 7 


HARO PEBBLY 
ROCK 33, , 0 


CONGL. 33, , 9 


SANDR’K 9, , 2 
42 8, > Oi 


i ° Q.QJTT A.?,. ®£A 


MAMMOTH 
BED 20, ,0 


























































































































































































































































































I 






